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Alice Liddell
Alice Pleasance Liddell was born on the 4th May 1852 and died on the 16 November 1934. Early Life In 1852, Alice's father, Henry Liddell (b. 1811), was the headmaster of Westminster School in London, and therefore Alice was born in that area. Soon after, however, Henry became the deanery of Christ Church in Oxford, and so the entire family moved down there in 1856. After this had occurred the family met Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who was in the area, photographing the cathedral. The two parties became friends. The First Wonderland Journey It was on the 4th July 1862 that Alice purportedly found a hole beneath a tree that led to a world that she called 'Wonderland'. Curiously, the world did not seem to abide by the laws of mathematics as our world does; indeed, it is possible for one to grow and/or shrink be eating certain mushrooms. Also, Alice reported that there was a certain mental change inherent in the voyage to this world- she found herself unable to recite poetry and other elementary necessities correctly. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, already a budding writer and storyteller, decided to publish the account of the incident, called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, under the pen-name 'Lewis Carroll'. The book was released to the public in 1865. It was met with wide acclaim, but due to the transitory nature of the narrative and the lack of any solid evidence it was discredited by members of the scientific profession. The Second Wonderland Journery Later, on the 4th November 1865, Alice returned to 'Wonderland'- this time through a large mirror that was over the fireplace. This portion of the country was an eccentric version of our own, except that it resembled a giant chessboard- the classical British hedgerows forming the square separations. The mental changes were not as marked here, with the exception of a 'Forgetful Forest', which seemed to cloud the memory. From this new evidence it is believed that Wonderland is a mirror image of the our world, with various people- and in some cases, locations- having their doubles in the society as we know it. For example, Alice says that she encountered a Dodo, a Duck, a Lory and an Eaglet which seemed to be doubles for Dodgson, Canon Duckworth, Lorina and Edith respectively, them all being acquaintances of Alice's, while characters resembling Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone, Theophilus Carter and John Ruskin all appeared. Dodgson published an account of this latter trip in 1871, calling it Through the Looking-Glass, and what Alice Found There. This met with scientific acclaim, thanks to the similarity between the Forgetful Forest and the Odysseus' Island of the Lotus. Both Dodgson and Alice became renowned almost overnight, and became figures of considerable social standing. The Third Wonderland Journey Charles Lutwidge Dodgson became increasingly interested in the case, observing the two places in which Alice went into the realm. He purchased a small house there, and frequently took photographs and suchlike of the surrounding area. He found that both sites were places where Ley Lines were in much profusion, and even wrote two books on the subject: "A Treatise on the Realm known as Wonderland and its Otherworldly Environs" and "The Theory of Ley Lines". In 1873 he undertook a journey to Wonderland, and succeeded- if it can be called that, as he was never seen again. However, an account of his journeys was found, next to the mirror where Alice had disappeared through, in 1876. It was a long narrative poem- in the third person, curiously, and all in Dodgson's hand, with the exception of the final 'fit' or 'chapter'. It was entitled "The Hunting of the Snark". The nature of the work seems to be that Dodgson- under the title 'the Baker'- and several others (a Bellman (who appears to be the double of Dante Gabriel Rosseti), a Boots, a Bonnet-maker, a Barrister, a Broker, a Billiard-marker, a Banker, a Butcher and a Beaver) go on a voyage to capture and kill a Snark. They finally find the creature in question, when Dodgson disappears, with the only explanation for this being that the Snark was a Boojum. Later Life In 1872 the son of Queen Victoria, Prince Leopold George Duncan Albert came to stay at Christ Church for four years. He was intensely interested in the Wonderland incidents that had happened earlier, and it was in his investigations that he first met Alice Liddell. They quickly became friends, and there were some accounts of impending marriage. However, on 26 June 1876 Alice's sister, Edith, died shortly before her marriage to the cricketer Aubrey Harcourt. The couple became estranged, and although he served as a pall-bearer at the funeral, he departed for London soon after. This did not stop Leopold naming one of his children 'Alice', however, while Alice herself returned the favour by naming a child of hers after the Prince. On 15 September 1880, Alice married the cricket-player Reginald Hargreaves at Westminster Abbey. They had three sons- Leopold, Caryl and Alan Hargreaves, all named after important figures in Alice's life, with the exception of Alan. Reginald was quite a famous figure, as he played cricket for Hampshire and was a magistrate. Alice soon became the first president of the Emery Down Women's Institute. In 1926, however, Reginald died, and Alice soon was unable to finance the family house of Cuffnells in the New Forest. She was forced to sell various memorabilia from her trip to the Wonderland- namely Dodgson's original draft, a recording of The Walrus and the Carpenter and some unusual samples of mushroom. She lived out the rest of her life in relative comfort until she died in 1934, whereupon she was buried at the site of her first adventure. Category:People Category:Pages Category:English People Category:Children